Thursday, November 6, 2008

Grief

¡Hola! Everybody…As a student of human behavior, I am fascinated by the rightwing response the monumental (community organizing) ass-kicking Obama handed the GOP…

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-=[ The Grief Process ]=-

“Prejudice is a raft onto which the shipwrecked mind clambers and paddles to safety.”

-- Ben Hech (1894–1964) American writer

[Note: some people will not like this post, but... ::shrug:: that's never stopped me before]

As I looked on during McCain’s concession speech, what I saw in that sea of homogeneous whiteness was face after face expressing shock. As someone who has worked in the mental health field for over a decade, I know the signs of disbelief, shock, and (in some instances) trauma. At that point, I realized a sizable sector of the American electorate was thrown into a profound state of grief.

I’m not going to make nice today, I’m going to call it as I see it, because the bottom line is that much of that shock comes from the realization that a Black man will occupy the most powerful office in the known universe.

Sure, some whites (and Uncle Toms), will try to convince you that their fear is based on concerns about Obama’s “readiness,” but that doesn’t wash with me. They will try to convince you that they have reasonable concerns about Obama.

Bullshit!

If you voted for a woman who cannot name a newspaper she reads regularly, an important Supreme Court case, or who actually thinks Africa is a country, you have no legs to stand on. Face it: you are upset because Obama is black.

Period.

Some whites (and a few blacks), say they “fear” for the international situation and Obama’s lack of experience. Yet, they had no fear of a septuagenarian who thought nothing of singing, “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” to the tune of the Beach Boy’s “Barbara Ann”?

Some white women will fuck a black man before they’ll vote for one and think that excuses them from their racist mindset. But that’s nothing new, blacks and whites have been fucking each other for centuries. It’s not uncommon to sexualize or eroticize “the other.” Once you go black… ?

Let me say that I agree that everyone has an opinion, and I would never try to disabuse anyone from an opinion. Opinions, as the cliché goes, are like assholes, everyone has one, and I will add that as in assholes, everyone thinks theirs doesn’t stink.

However, actions speak volumes about a person’s judgment. No one who voted for Palin will ever convince me they value intelligence and reason. If you voted for an idiot, then what does that make you? If you vote for an incompetent, what does that say about your value system? Opinions are opinions, but actions speak much more loudly. It is telling that some of the staunchest neocons refused to vote for Palin because they saw her as clueless. If you voted for Palin, you cast a vote for willful ignorance and that influences my opinion of you. There are values people express verbally and there are the values people actually live by -- and those two aren’t always aligned.

The only possible reason I could see for your vote is that you voted for ignorance because you couldn’t vote for an intelligent Black man.

Most of the neocon pundits are still in the denial stage of the grief process. Denying, for example, that Obama’s victory wasn’t so monumental. Let’s look at that:

Electoral College Smackdown? Check!

Hordes of neocons evicted from the House? Check!

Largest percentage of national vote in 40 years? Check!

More whites voted for Obama than they did for Gore and Kerry? Check!

Sounds like the American people are trying to say something. Sure, 46 million or so voted for McCain, but if you put it in its proper context, I doubt any thinking person would argue that Obama gave the GOP a major black eye. I call it abuse. Shame on you, Barry!

There are hordes of angry whites scared to death of that black man today. Which is another stage of grief: you get over the denial and you become angry at the reality. There was one idiot running around 360 yesterday proclaiming that no black person can ever claim that racism exists --ever again.

::blank stare::

Okay: so after more than 200 years, one black man gets elected president and that means racism ceased to exist? SMDH That’s anger. And I point this out because I’m sure it will be a common refrain among the “I’m-not-prejudiced/ racist-but” crowd. Am I the only one who sees the stupidity underlying such a narrow-headed and angry statement?

Here’s the genius of the Obama campaign (and believe me, political consultants all over the U.S. are dissecting this as I write): his campaign single-handedly created the machine that allowed him to run a 50-state campaign. The usual practice was the neocons would rouse their base and the dems would do likewise and that was it. The Obama campaign, taking a page from community organizing, created a grassroots movement that infiltrated areas never before seen. It resulted in record numbers of voters coming out en masse. In come places, there was 90-95 percent participation. States that never voted for a democrat turned. Shit, I'm sure quite a few rednecks voted Obama on the DL.

He didn’t need to use the Democratic Party apparatus -- he went off on his own and the rest of the party rode his coattails to a rout across the country. It was a huge, but intelligent and profitable gamble.

And he’s black and that’s what scares the majority of Obama detractors -- that he’s black. Because any sane and reasonable person shouldn’t be scared. But prejudice, racism, and ignorance has nothing to do with reason, I know that. Fortunately for us, reason finally trumped ignorance this time. More people, new people, people of all colors, people who never voted came out in droves. This was mostly due to the Obama strategy of grassroots development. Today, I feel much safer and can finally see a ray of light.

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My life experiences have led me to strive to help others move their lives in a positive direction, exploring opportunities that would otherwise be closed to them. I like to think I sit at the crossroads of the dialectic between knowledge and action. I hope that what transpires here is reflective of my beliefs.